Download Deadline – 29 April. Please send your contribution to and

Deadline – 29 April. Please send your contribution to [email protected] and [email protected]
Send in by:
Ole Steen Nielsen, Vice Dean Faculty of Health, Aarhus University
Title:
Diet – an important determinant of health
Area in the Horizon 2020 Specific Programme under which the priority belongs:
1.1.1 Understanding the determinants of health, improving health and disease prevention
Research need and content (Max.15 lines):
Prevention of lifestyle diseases through a focus on health, wellbeing and diet will solve a number
of health challenges in relation to the stress, obesity, Type II diabetes, cardiovascular diseases
and cancer. At a population level new knowledge about diet and disease associations is needed
in order to optimize health and prevent disease. This area of research will benefit from very large
ongoing European prospective cohort studies where information on diet has been collected
together with biological material allowing biomarker studies. At a personal level new knowledge
about personalized nutrition is needed to optimize treatment of diagnosed individuals.
An interdisciplinary perspective is needed that combines different aspects of health studies
including epidemiology and clinical medicine together with both traditional dietary assessment
methods and new technologies like nutrigenomics, metabolomics and other systems biology
approaches. Health research should be complemented with psychological and behavioral
(lifestyle) studies (including addictive tendencies), consumer and sensory studies, and food
research that will deliver a suite of food products with increased satisfaction, health attributes and
that will meet the demands of different lifestyle needs of society.
European and Global perspectives (5-10 lines):
Promotion of health and wellbeing through correct diet will reduce the incidence of lifestyle
diseases. These diseases have major implications for the quality of life for those affected and
have a large impact on societal costs to treatment and rehabilitation after diagnosis. Further,
personalized nutrition solutions may improve wellbeing in patients with lifestyle diseases due to
reduced dependence on medical treatments, reduce the overall costs of health care through use
of food as a preventative and complementary curative treatment when combined with
personalized medical solutions, will increased wellbeing of society and particularly in the aging
population, in addition personalized nutritional solutions aimed at ethnic groups and / or low socioeconomic groups at risk from poor western diets are needed to address increasing health
challenges in developing countries.
Related industry and research strength: (5 – 10 lines)
Danish perspective: Highly innovative, dynamic and responsive food industry exists that is
delivering healthy and trustworthy raw materials, including innovative SME focused on
differentiation of quality products for Danish and export markets.
Strong level of entrepreneurship in industry sector.
Close connection developing between Health and Food researchers who can through an
interdisciplinary approach provide a new insight to health based solutions. A consortium of
business (both multinationals and SMEs) and researchers representing the entire food is currently
being developed in Denmark that puts Denmark in a very strong positions, this consortium will
focus on delivering new food products with targeted features to the key health challenges and key
segments of society (eg ethnic, elderly, children). These products can be used to improve health
and well-being, and thereby reduce the need for costly health treatments.
Industry sector includes interest from many multinationals, existing relationships with eg Arla,
Unilever, Danisco, Glaxo Smith Kline, Danone and a multitude of SME.
Possible alliances in other countries: (for internal use) (4 - 5 lines)
UC Davis, Norwegian Fish and Nutrition Research Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Wageningen,
Beijing Genomics Institute, Goteborg University, NOFIRMA, James Hutton Institute (Scotland),
European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition with partners from 10 EU countries.
Strong global collaboration.
Other possible relevant aspects:
HIGH PROBABILITY of Danish researchers and companies being involved in an international
consortium.
1. HEALTH, DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE AND WELLBEING
Effective health promotion, supported by a robust evidence base, prevents disease, contributes to
wellbeing and to contain costs. Promotion of health, active ageing, wellbeing and disease
prevention also depend on an understanding of the determinants of health, on effective preventive
tools, such as vaccines, on effective health and disease surveillance and preparedness, and on
effective screening programmes.
Successful efforts to prevent, early detect, manage, treat and cure disease, disability, frailty and
reduced functionality are underpinned by the fundamental understanding of their causes, processes
and impacts, as well as factors underlying good health and wellbeing. Improved understanding of
health and disease will demand close linkage between fundamental, clinical, epidemiological and
socio-economic research. Effective sharing of data and the linkage of these data with real-world
large scale cohort studies is also essential, as is the translation of research findings into the clinic,
in particular through the conduct of clinical trials.
It is a societal challenge to adjust to the further demands on health and care sectors due to the
ageing population. If effective health and care is to be maintained for all ages, efforts are required to
improve decision making in prevention and treatment provision, to identify and support the
dissemination of best practice in the healthcare sector, and to support integrated care. A better
understanding of ageing processes and the prevention of age-related illnesses are the basis for
keeping European citizens healthy and active throughout the course of their lives. Similarly
important is the wide uptake of technological, organisational and social innovations empowering
older persons in particular to remain active, productive and independent. Doing so will contribute to
increasing, and lengthening the duration of their physical, social, and mental well-being.
The programme should address in the relevant activities chronic conditions and diseases including
but not limited to: cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, metabolic diseases and risk factors
including diabetes, chronic pain, neurological, neurodegenerative, mental health and substance use
disorders, rare diseases, overweight and obesity, autoimmune diseases, rheumatic and musculoskeletal
disorders and various diseases affecting different organs as well as acute conditions and
various functional limitations. Likewise infectious diseases including but not limited to HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis and malaria, neglected and poverty related diseases, emerging epidemics as well as the
threat of increasing anti-microbial resistance and occupational diseases and work related disorders
should be addressed.
All of these activities will be undertaken in such a way as to provide support throughout the
research and innovation cycle, strengthening the competitiveness of the European based industries
and development of new market opportunities. Support will be given to translational approaches
that integrate several steps of the innovation process in the health care industry.
Specific activities are described below.
1.1. Understanding health, wellbeing and disease
1.1.1. Understanding the determinants of health, improving health promotion and disease
prevention
A better understanding of the determinants of health is required in order to provide evidence for
effective health promotion and disease prevention, and will also allow the development of
comprehensive health and wellbeing indicators in the Union based on existing data sources and
indicator systems. Environmental, behavioural (including life-style), psychological, organisational,
cultural, socio-economic, biological and genetic factors, in their broadest senses will be studied.
Comment [MIWI1]:
DRAFT EU TEXT
12 Dec 2012
17633/12
Approaches will include the long term study of cohorts and their linkage with data derived from
"-omics" research, systems bio-medicine including relevant applications of systems biology and
other methods.
In particular, a better understanding of the environment as a determinant of health will require an
inter-disciplinary approach integrating amongst others, molecular biological, epidemiological and
toxicological approaches and resultant data to study the modes of action of various chemicals,
combined exposures to pollutants and other environmental and climate related stressors; to perform
integrated toxicological testing and to seek alternatives to animal testing. Innovative approaches to
exposure assessment are needed using new-generation biomarkers based on 'omics' and epigenetics,
human biomonitoring, personal exposure assessments and modelling to understand combined,
cumulative and emerging exposures, integrating socio-economic, cultural, occupational,
psychological and behavioural factors. Improved links with environmental data using advanced
information systems will be supported.
In this way, existing and planned policies and programmes can be assessed and policy support
provided. Similarly, improved behavioural interventions, prevention and education programmes can
be developed including those pertaining to health literacy in nutrition, physical activity, vaccination
and other primary care interventions.
1.1.2. Understanding disease
There is a need for an improved understanding of health and disease, throughout the human life
cycle, so that new and better prevention measures, diagnosis, treatments and rehabilitation measures
can be developed. Interdisciplinary, basic and translational research on the patho-physiology of
disease is essential to improve the understanding of all aspects of disease processes, including a
reclassification
of normal variation and disease based on molecular data, and to validate and use
research results in clinical applications.
Underpinning research will encompass and encourage development and use of new tools and
approaches for the generation of biomedical data and include bio-imaging, "-omics", high
throughput and systems medicine approaches. These activities will demand close linkage between
fundamental and clinical research and with long term cohort studies (and the corresponding
research domains) as described above. Close links with research and medical infrastructures
(databases, bio-banks etc.) will also be required, for standardisation, storage, sharing and access to
data, which are all essential for maximising data utility and for stimulating more innovative and
effective ways of analysing and combining datasets.
1.1.3. Improving surveillance and preparedness
Human populations are under threat from new and emerging infections, including of zoonotic
origin, as well as those which result from drug resistance to existing pathogens and from other
direct and indirect consequences of climate change and from the international movement of people.
New or improved methods for surveillance, diagnosis, early warning networks, health service
organisation and preparedness campaigns are needed for the modelling of epidemics, for effective
pandemic response as are efforts to maintain and enhance capabilities to combat drug resistant
infectious disease.